Enhanced Search

We’re excited to share some more details about our new advanced search capabilities on the Timeline and the Messages Report page. We’ve heard from many customers that finding specific content (to recycle, or for use in an advertising pitch, or to add a label, among other use cases) remains a challenge. For this reason, we’ve seriously upgraded our search capabilities to make sure any piece of content can be at your finger-tips in a matter of seconds.

While our customers can search as they always have, we thought it might be helpful to share some tips for how to get the most out of Enhanced Search.

What criteria can Enhanced Search use to find my posts?

Enhanced Search can search against the following criteria:

• Post Message
• Post Title
• Post Description
• Link (ie, link to the content)
• Post Editor (email address of Post Editor)
• Post Publisher (email address of the user who published the post)
• Post Creator (email address of the user who created the post)
• Label
• Post Type (video, link, or text posts)
• Published Status
• IAB Content Category (Category of linked-to content as per IAB categorization)
• MediaTopics Category (Category of linked-to content as per MediaTopics categorization)
• Keywords (keywords from the linked-to content)
• Service Message ID

If you don’t choose a specific search option (ie, post title, label, etc), you can simply hit return and by default you will search against terms in the Post Message, Post Title, Post Description and Keywords.

How can I choose which options to search against?

As you type in the search box, suggested search options will be intelligently shown. 

For example, if you type an email address, the search types that use emails (Post Editor, Post Publisher and Post Creator) will appear. Click on the particular option you’re interested in, and the search will run accordingly. In this case, you could choose to see all posts created by Maura@socialflow.com.

Or if you type a word that is part of a content category, those categories that include that term will appear below for you to refine your search. Click on the category of interest and all the posts in that category will be returned.

If you don’t see the option you’d like, press Show All Options and all potential search options will be made available for you to choose. Conversely, if there are too many possibilities, click on Show Matched Options and only matched options will appear.

Can I use NOT in my searches?

Sometimes you want to find that post that does not contain a particular term. Enhanced search enables this capability as well!  

To use this NOT behavior, first type the term you don’t want to find. For example, if I wanted to find posts that are not in the “Events and Attactions>Nation & Civic Holidays” IAB category, I would type “holiday” and then click on that particular category:

Next, hold the shift button and click on the chiclet that contains your original search. The circle around the search chiclet will turn red indicating that the search is now for posts that are NOT in the specified category. 

How can I create a complex search?

Enhanced search can manage most complex search requests. In creating those, it’s important to know the default behaviors. If you search two different terms within a particular search criteria, the search will look for posts that either criteria. This is equivalent to an OR in Boolean searches. In other words, if you search for two different IAB Categories at the same time, you will see results from posts that have either of those categories. In this case, the search is for a Technology & Computing category or the National & Civic Holidays category.. 

On the other hand, if you search among different search options, the default will be AND behavior. For example, this search would result in all the posts that have “industry report” in the Post Message AND have “Google Analytics” as a keyword.

How can I get the same results that I got before Enhanced Search was rolled out?

To get the same results that you would have gotten before Enhanced Search, simply enter your search terms without selecting a category from the drop-down.  Or, select Classic Search to get the results you would have gotten before this update.

Feel free to email support@socialflow.com, or your account rep with any questions.